HomeDoor 2.0 User's Guide
Getting Started
This chapter covers basic information to help you get started with HomeDoor.
In-depth coverage of these issues can be found in the HomeDoor
Reference, Admin Reference
and Appendixes.
System Requirements
- 68K or PowerPC
- Mac OS System 7.5 or later
- MacTCP 2.0 or later, OR Open Transport 1.1 or
later
- Browser-independent redirection requires an Ethernet
connection (built-in Ethernet is required under Open Transport); host field mapping works with any TCP/IP connection
- Browser-independent redirection works with any
Web server; host field mapping requires WebSTAR 1.3.2 or later
Installing HomeDoor
If you know for sure that you will only be using one method or the other,
you need only install software for that method. See the section below for
the method you will use, plus the "Either Method" section. If
you're not sure at this point, you will probably want to install for both
methods, so the software is in place if you decide you need it.
- Host Field Mapping
- Place the HomeDoor plug-in in the WebSTAR plug-ins folder. You must
restart WebSTAR for the plug-in to be recognized by WebSTAR.
- Add memory to WebSTAR for the plug-in.
- Quit WebSTAR.
- From the finder, do a "Get Info" on WebSTAR and add 100KB
to WebSTAR's memory allocation.
- Restart WebSTAR.
- Browser-Independent Redirection
- Place the HomeDoor extension in the extensions folder in your system
folder. If you have more than one Macintosh on your network, see Where to Run HomeDoor
in the HomeDoor Reference for
options on where to install the extension.
- Either Method
- Place HomeDoor Admin anywhere on your hard disk, preferably in the
WebSTAR Plug-ins folder, if you're going to use host field mapping.
Upgrading from HomeDoor 1.2
HomeDoor 2.0 is fully backwards-compatible with HomeDoor 1.2. That is,
if you are using HomeDoor 1.2, you should be able to install 2.0 without
having any effect on your current operations (with one possible exception,
noted below). In fact, the HomeDoor 2.0 upgrade does not include a new HomeDoor
extension -- just keep using your current extension for browser-independent
redirection.
HomeDoor's new host field mapping method is implemented through the new
plug-in and the new Admin application. These pieces should not interfere
with previous functionality in any way AS LONG AS you use the mapping method's
default error handling preferences. You can simply add new host names via
host field mapping as indicated in the Host
Field Mapping section of the Admin
Reference.
If, however, you do not use the mapping method's default error handling
preferences, there are potential side effects on browser-independent redirection
which you should be aware of. Error handling is discussed in detail in the
Error Configuration
section of the Admin Reference.
You may wish to change some of your current virtual Web servers from
the old redirection implementation to host field mapping. The details of
how to do this are in the Changing
Methods appendix.
Which Method?
Before configuring HomeDoor, it will be helpful to decide which method
you want to use with each virtual server you'll implement. There are certain
situations where you must use a particular method, and other situations
where you can use either (but never both for a particular virtual server).
You can choose methods on a domain-by-domain basis.
You must use browser-independent redirection if:
- your Web server does not support the architecture required for host
field mapping. This includes WebSTAR prior to version 1.3.2.
- you must support all browsers, including those that do not implement
the host field.
You must use host field mapping if:
- you only have a single IP address available for your Web server
- your Web server is not on an Ethernet network
In other situations, you may choose between the two methods on a domain-by-domain
basis. The tradeoffs are summarized in the Method
Tradeoffs section of the HomeDoor
Reference.
Anatomy of a URL
Figure 1 below illustrates the components of a URL. You will find the
terminology useful in the remainder of this user's guide.

Figure 1. URL components
Pre-Configuration Tasks
We assume in this section that we want to implement two virtual servers,
one for company X and one for company Y. Detailed examples are found in
the Setup Example: Browser-Independent
Redirection and Setup
Example: Host Field Mapping appendixes.
Common Tasks for Either Method:
- Register domain names. For details of this procedure, see the Registering Domain Names
appendix. We'll assume you choose domain names of companyX.com and companyY.com.
- Choose host names for each virtual Web server. We'll assume you choose
www.companyX.com and www.companyY.com.
- Choose a method for each virtual server you want to implement. The
methods are discussed in the Which Method?
section above. Note that you must choose exactly one method per virtual
server.
- Create a folder (usually at the Web server's root) for each virtual
server. For example, for company X's server, you might create a folder
"companyX" at the Web server's root. This folder would then be
the "virtual root" for company X's virtual server.
Browser-Independent Redirection Method:
- Contact your network administrator to obtain a range of IP addresses
for use by redirection. Redirection requires a unique IP address for each
virtual Web server. BE SURE that the addresses you obtain are valid for
the Ethernet network on which HomeDoor is running.
- Use the DNS to assign IP addresses to host names. Let's say you get
addresses 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 from your network administrator. You would
then assign 10.0.0.1 to www.companyX.com and 10.0.0.2 to www.companyY.com.
Host Field Mapping Method:
- Use the DNS to assign host names for each virtual server. Use the IP
address of the "real" server for each host name that will use
this method. Assume the "real" server's IP address is 10.0.0.254.
You would then assign the host name "www.companyX.com" to the
IP address 10.0.0.254, and also assign "www.companyY.com" to
10.0.0.254. Note that these host names now both point to (have the same
IP address as) the "real" server. See the Setup
Example: Host Field Mapping appendix for a complete example.
Configuring For Browser-Independent Redirection
- Enter the range of IP addresses to be used by the redirection method.
To do this, launch HomeDoor Admin. If the Redirection window is not displayed,
then from the Window menu select Redirection. Click the "New IP's"
button and enter the first and last IP addresses to be used by redirection
(10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 in our example). Do not include the "real"
server's address in this range. You may want to have a few extra addresses
available in the range you've obtained, so you don't have to go back and
renumber everything later.
- Enter URLs for addresses in HomeDoor's address range. Do this by selecting
an IP address in the Redirection window and clicking the Edit button. A
dialog appears with a text box for you to enter a URL into. The URL usually
should start with "http://" and end with "/", and needs
to point to the folder you created for the server at that address. There
is a rare exception to this covered in Adding
a Virtual Server Entry in the Admin
Reference. In our example you would enter http://www.yourwebserver.com/companyX/
for 10.0.0.1 and http//www.yourwebserver.com/companyY/ for 10.0.0.2; by
doing so, you have associated company X's virtual Web server with IP address
10.0.0.1, and company Y's with 10.0.0.2. BE SURE that the URLs you configure
into HomeDoor are URLs to actual Web servers; if they point back to addresses
served by HomeDoor itself, it could create an infinite redirection loop.
Once you have entered the URLs for each address in HomeDoor's range for
which you want it to act as a virtual server, hit the "Save"
button in the Redirection window to write out the information to the HomeDoor
extension.
In this simple example, the location field of the user's browser will show
"http://www.yourwebserver.com/companyX" instead of "www.companyX.com".
There is a way to not have your "real" server's domain name appear
in the location field, and this is covered in the Browsers'
Display of HomeDoor URLs section of the HomeDoor
Reference.
NOTE: You cannot access home pages implemented with browser-independent
redirection from the same Mac on which the HomeDoor extension is running,
nor can you ping HomeDoor addresses from that Mac.
Configuring For Host Field Mapping
- Associate the host names you selected previously with folder names.
Launch HomeDoor Admin. If the Mapping window is not displayed, then from
the Window menu select "Host Field Mapping." You may be asked
to locate the plug-in. To add new entries, click on the New button in the
Mapping window. In the "Host Name" text box type a host name,
say "www.companyX.com". In the "Pathname to Insert"
text box type that host's folder path relative to WebSTAR's root; this
pathname must begin with a slash and end without one. A likely choice for
"www.companyX.com" would be "/companyX". To complete
our example, you would repeat these steps for "www.companyY.com"
and "/companyY". You do not need to include the "real"
server's name in the list (unless you change the mapping error-handling
preferences, as covered in the Error
Configuration section of the Admin
Reference). When you are done, hit the "Save" button
to save your changes.
- With host field mapping, there are two basic error conditions that
you may wish to configure HomeDoor for. The default settings will suffice
to get you started. Other options are covered in the Error
Configuration section of the Admin
Reference.
- A user tries to access a virtual server with a browser which does not
support the HTTP 1.1 host field.
- A user tries to access a virtual server which is not in HomeDoor's
list.
- If you are running more than one copy of WebSTAR on a given Macintosh,
you can drag a HomeDoor plug-in to each of the WebSTAR plug-in folders
and configure each one separately using the same HomeDoor Admin. See Where to Run HomeDoor
in the HomeDoor Reference for
details.
Activating HomeDoor
- Browser-independent redirection: After initial installation, restart
your Macintosh to activate browser-independent redirection. You should
see the HomeDoor extension icon displayed at start up. If you do not see
the icon, or if you see the icon with a red "X" through it, see
the Troubleshooting: Browser-Independent
Redirection appendix.
- Host field mapping: You must restart WebSTAR after first installing
the HomeDoor plug-in.
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